Brands
BookMyShow Opens Ticket Sales For The World Premiere of Cirque Du Soleil’s – BAZZAR Starting Today in India
MUMBAI: Audiences in India will very soon experience the magnificence of the world’s biggest live-entertainment phenomena, Cirque du Soleil, brought to India by BookMyShow. Citibank has come on board as the presenting partner for the world premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s ‘BAZZAR’ in India. The shows will start November 2018 finding their way home in Mumbai from 15th November 2018 and Delhi from 25th December 2018 before moving to other markets.
BookMyShow’s long-term association with Cirque du Soleil is aimed at establishing India as a key market to open avenues for global entertainment. Cirque Du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to more than 190 million spectators in over 450 cities on six continents. The company sells over 12 million tickets per year and has close to 4,000 employees, including 1,400 performing artists from close to 60 different countries.
Unlike any other entertainment company, Cirque du Soleil will not just visit Mumbai and Delhi but will infuse in the city’s culture with the set up of The Big Top, the main tent, where the performances will take place. The Big Top itself is a wonder that is set up over a period of six days and stands tall at 19 meters (62 feet) high and is 41 meters (135 feet) in diameter accommodating 1500 people at once.
A cast and crew of 62 people will be travelling to India from over 13 different countries and close to 700 tonnes of equipment will be carried via 25 sea containers. The show will feature a range of acrobatic marvels ranging from teeterboard, portage, acrobatic bike, contortion, duo roller skate, duo trapeze, aerial rope, slackline and live music with one singer and two musicians on stage. With performances pairing imagination and impressive scenography, unique characters, remarkable aesthetics and acrobatic feats; ‘BAZZAR’ will feature key Cirque du Soleil elements. The tickets for the nearly two-hour spectacular will be available starting today exclusively on BookMyShow with prices starting just at INR 1,250 (different for both cities).
Written and Directed by Susan Gaudreau, Cirque du Soleil – BAZZAR will perfectly capture the high-energy excitement, collision of sounds and colours, and showcase a meeting place of diverse characters recreating a traditional Indian ‘bazaar’. Lead by their maestro in the show, the troupe comes together to invent a whimsical one-of-a-kind universe in a place where the unexpected is expected, the colourful group reimagines, rebuilds and reinvents vibrant scenes in an artistic, acrobatic game of order and disorder.
“BookMyShow has been and will continue to play a huge part in the transformative journey of the live entertainment category in India. While it has personally been a lifelong dream to work with Cirque du Soleil, their entry into India with BAZZAR will re-imagine this category. We are excited to give our growing customer base in India the opportunity to get access to this global phenomenon,” said Ashish Hemrajani, Founder and CEO, BookMyShow.
“Cirque du Soleil has been looking at India as a potential market for quite a while now. We wanted to do things right and introduce the brand appropriately to this new audience that was never exposed to Cirque du Soleil before,” said Daniel Lamarre, President and CEO, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. “It is for this very reason that we put our trust in BookMyShow, who’s deep knowledge and understanding of the Indian market is essential for our successful presence in this country. With their help, our long-term objective is to establish a strong and lasting presence in India and to share our creativity with as many people as possible.”
“Designing a show specifically to introduce Cirque du Soleil to a totally new audience was an exciting creative challenge,” explained Susan Gaudreau, Show Director. “It pushed the creators to find the essence of what we are and articulate it in a way that is universally understandable. With its story centered on the creative process and the energy found in the unexpected, BAZZAR shines a light on what is uniquely Cirque du Soleil. I am very honoured to be in India today to introduce BAZZAR to the Indian people and am very much looking forward to its premiere!”
Shinjini Kumar, Consumer Business Manager, Global Consumer Banking, Citi India, said, “We are excited to partner with Bookmyshow for the world premiere of BAZZAR, a unique show crafted for India and the world by Cirque du Soleil. We are always looking for opportunities to bring world-class entertainment through our partners to our clients, who like to indulge in exclusive international experiences. Citi customers can look forward to making this an even more memorable event with our special offers and privileges. We cannot think of a better way to celebrate this festive season than to facilitate wholesome entertainment for our customers and their families.”
Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, has also expressed his support for Cirque du Soleil’s India visit as this would boost tourism in the state by exposing the audiences to new artistic and cultural experiences.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
